Hi, Dan! How're you doing? How's Archagathus today?
Oh I'm alright, just spent a lazy day around my apartment with my cat. Not very exciting. Hopefully one of the 3 other Archagathus members got up to something more interesting!
I noticed that you sound more gory on your recent releases, for example, you use more pitch shifted vocals. What can you say about these changes?
Well our sound has changed and will continue to change as time goes on, basically I intend to write whatever style/sound of grindcore that I'm most excited about at any given time and use those songs for Arch. I have used a pitch shifter in the band since the very beginning...all the low vocals on the Mincecore Demo 2005 tape are pitched a bit lower. We've gradually been tuning lower and incorporating more death metal and goregrind influences over the years...I guess these days I'm most excited about playing grindcore that sounds like older Dead Infection, Regurgitate, Malignant Tumour and the like...so Arch will probably continue to do a more gory sound for the foreseeable future!
Let's talk about live shows. You performed in almost every continent and visited a lot of cities. Can you tell us what was the most memorable and awesome moment among other ones?
Oh, we have played so many great shows…it is hard to say which was the best! Every time we play in L.A. we have a great time. A few memorable gigs for me are playing OEF in Trutnov during our first European tour in 2010, playing with Unholy Grave in Nagoya 2014 and our gig with Agathocles in Brooklyn 2016. Of course, we have had some wild times in many cities as you said…some good and some bad…hopefully the adventures will continue!
Kinda logical thing to ask about countries you haven't been yet. So, what countries would you like to visit while touring?
During our next big international tour we would very much like to play shows in South America! Brazil has been on our wish list for some time, and we have had many offers over the years. There are some rad grinders doing fests and shows in India and Pakistan, so next time we are in Asia I hope we can catch a flight to those places for some shows as well. Mexico, South Africa…hell we want to play everywhere in the world that we can.
Is there an instrument you cannot play? How did you come up with an idea to master these instruments? You are literally one-man orchestra now, hehe
I’m originally a drummer, and that’s the instrument I’m best at playing. I started playing bass and guitar when I was around 16/17 years old because I was tired of humming riffs to my band mates for them to write on guitar…I had lots of ideas and realized that I would need to learn these other instruments in order to create the music I was hearing in my head. I love playing guitar and writing riffs! Even though there are other grindcore bands/musicians in Winnipeg when I started Archagathus in 2004/2005 as a one man band I did it because I didn’t know anyone else that was as enthusiastic as me about starting an oldschool grind/mince band…if it was gonna happen I would have to do it myself!
Besides being a multi-instrumentalist you are also playing in other bands. Please tell us about all of them a bit, because I'm already confused where else do you play...
Here’s a quick list of other bands I’m currently playing in:
Skunk – crust/grind
Regurgitated Guts – death metal
Skeleton – d-beat
Sabbatory – death metal
Indignari – punk
Genex – hardcore
Fleshmeat – grindcore
Electro Quarterstaff – instrumental prog
And I have done various other projects over the years and other bands…but these are what I’m currently up to when I head to the jam space.
I know that you like animals, especially cats. How many pets live with you? Do you miss them while touring?
I only live with one cat! His name is Quinoa and he’s a very bad boy. He likes to bite my feet and scratch my records, little bastard! Of course I miss him while I’m on tour…he’s my best little buddy!
By the way, how's it going with new Archagathus' releases? Tell our readers about those that are in progress right now.
Here’s the ones in progress…but there are other ones happening too! Just a few to get an idea of what we are up to:
Archagathus/Haggus 7”
Archagathus/Meat Spreader LP
Archagathus/Nauseate/Camphora Monobromata CD
Archagathus – Rehearsal in Baltimore 2016 tape
Archagathus – 2x7”
Archagathus – Cold Universe 7” (almost released)
Archagathus/Horrendous Miscreation 10”
Archagathus/Whoresnation 7”
Archagathus/My Minds Mine
Now let's talk about the thing we all love. What is Archagathus' favorite drink?
I think myself, Joe and Andy would say BEER! Cam would say COFFEE! So COFFEE and BEER!
I guess it's pretty obvious that you like one particular band from Belgium, so here's the question: what is Agathocles to you?
Agathocles is one of the main influences for our band, of course. I have loved Agathocles since I was about 14 years old and I wanted to do a band that had the same sound and aesthetic. So I wrote and recorded the ‘mincecore demo 2005’ tape just so I could try to do split 7”s with Agathocles, Unholy Grave, and Rot. The Rot split 7” never happened (maybe one day!), but the other two did. I never thought that Archagathus would become so popular and now it is a main driving force in my life…which has enabled me to travel all over the world, and make new friends and maintain positive relationships. So I guess Agathocles is a pretty important band for me!
Do you have a collection of your own releases on your shelf? By the way, how many of them already?
Ya, I keep 1-2 copies of all my personal releases. How many? I stopped keeping track some time ago…although now I am curious. It would take me some time to figure that out but I would guess around 80 or 90 releases on vinyl, CD, and tape throughout my various bands.
For the last 5 years I noticed how thrash metal was a thing, then it was death metal, powerviolence, and now mincecore is getting popular too. What can you say about it?
Well, typically different genres of music get more and less popular in waves. Certain bands will get people very excited which will result in more bands of a similar style and more excitement. I think it’s great that mincecore is strong right now…lots of great bands and great people showing support and enthusiasm for some punk as fuck grindcore. Alive and Thriving!
Do you remember the worst gig in your life?
Hm, I can’t think of it right now…but I’d probably prefer not to think of the ‘worst of’ events in my life. I’ve played lots of shitty shows but some of them are so bad that I tend to think of them fondly in retrospect, because in hindsight they are funny etc.
There's a lot of cool new bands started making noise in recent years. Can you name some of your favorite goregrind bands that are younger than 5 years?
Meat Spreader, Vomi Noir, Oniku, Sulfuric Cautery, Acid Feast, Metastasis, Algolagnia…these are just ones that come to me at the top of my head! There’s a lot of great new goregrind bands out there though…
And that's all the questions I had for you. Thank you so much for this conversation! Make mince not war!
Thanks and cheers! Anyone can feel free to get in touch with us at Archagathus@hotmail.com
But please be patient I’m slow at replying!
